6. The son of Nimshi, and father of king Jehu of Is- rael (2 Kings ix, 2, 14). B.C. ante 883.
JEHOSHAPHAT, VALLEY OF psrin:' p?2?, Sept. Koi\«c 'Imaa^i'iT, Vidg. Vallis Jusaphut), a valley mentioned in Scripture by the prophet Joel only, as the spot in which, after the return of Judah and Jerusalem from captivity, Jehovah would gather all the heathen (Joel iii, 2 [iv, 2J), and would there sit to judge them for their misdeeds to Israel (Joel iii, 12 [v, 4]). The nations referred to seem to be those who specially or.- pressed Israel and aided in their overthrow, particu- larly the Sidonians, Tyrians, and Phoenicians generally (ver. 4). The passage is one of great boldness, abound- ing in the verbal turns in which Hebrew poetry so much delights ; and, in particular, there is a play between the name given to the spot — Jehoshaphat, i.e. "Jehovah's judgment" — and the "judgment" there to be pro- nounced. The Hebrew prophets often refer to the an- cient glories of their nation : thus Isaiah speaks of the "day of Midian," and of the triumphs of David and of Joshua in "jMount Perazim"and in the "valley of Gib- eon," and in like manner Joel, in announcing the ven- geance to be taken on the strangers who were annoying his country (iii, 14), seems to have glanced back to that triumphant day when king Jehoshaphat — the greatest king the nation had seen since Solomon, and the great- est champion of Jehovah— led out his people to a valley in the wilderness of Tekoah, and was there blessed with such a victory over the hordes of his enemies as was Avithout a parallel in the national records (2 Chron. xx : see J. E. (ierhardt, Di.oi^erf. ?•. d. Citation ins Thai Josa- phat [Bayreuth, 1775]). See Joeu
But, though such a reference to Jehoshaphat is both natural and characteristic, it is n^t certain that it is in- tended. The name may be only an imaginary one, con- ferred on a spot which existed nowhere but in the vis- ion of the projihet. Such was the view of some of the ' ancient translators. Thus Theodotion renders it yiopa Kpiffeojc, and so the Targum of Jonathan — " the plain of the division of judgment." INIichaelis {Biheljiir Urif/e- lehrte, Remarks on Joel) takes a similar view, and con- siders the jiassage to be a jirediction of the Maccabasan victories. By others, however, the prophet has been supposed to have had the end of the world in view (see Henderson, Keil. etc., ad loc).
The name " Valley of Jehoshaphat" (generally simply el-J6s, more fully wady Jiisafat, also wady Shnfat or Faraun), in modern times, is attached to the deep ra- vine which separates Jerusalem from the Mount of ; Olives, through which at one time the Kedron forced
JEHOSHAPHAT, VALLEY OF 808 JEHOSHAPHAT, VALLEY OF
its stream. At what period the name was first applied to \^\s spot is not known. There is no trace of it in the Bible or in Josephus. In both the only name used for this gorge is Kiduon (N. T. " Cedron"). We first encounter its new title in the middle of the 4th century, in the 0 no mast icon of Eusebius and Jerome (s. v. Coelas), and in the commentary of the latter father on Joel. Since that time the name has_been recognised and adopted by travellers of all ages" and all faiths. It is used by Christians— as Arcidf, iu 700 {Earli/ Trav. p. 4) ; the author of the Citez de Jherusalem, in 1187 ; and Jlaundrell, in 1697 {Early Trav. p. 469)— and by Jews, as Benjamin of Tudela, about 1170 (Asher i, 71 ; see Re- land, Pulcest. p. 356). By the Moslems it is still said to be called by the traditional name (Seetzen, ii, 23, 26), though the name usually given to the valley is wady Sitti-Maryam. Both Moslems and Jews believe that the last judgment is to take place there. To find a grave there is a frequent wish of the latter (Briggs, Heathen and Holy Laiids, p. 290), and the former show — as they have shown for certainly two centuries — the place on which Mohammed is to be seated at the last judgment : a stone jutting out from the east wall of the Haram area, near the south corner — one of the pillars which once adorned the churches of Helena or Justin- ian, and of which multitudes are now imbedded in the rude masonry of the more modern walls of Jerusalem. This pillar is said to be called et-Turik, " the road" (De Saulcy, Voyage, ii, 199). From it will spring the bridge of As-Sirut, the crossing of which is to test the true be- lievers. Those who cannot stand the test will drop off into the abyss of Gehenna, in the depths of the valley (Ali Bey, p. 224, 5 ; Mejr ed-Din in Robinson's Research. i, 269). The steep sides of the ravine, wherever a level strip affords the opportunity, are crowded — in places al- most paved — by the sepulchres of the IMoslems, or the simpler slabs of the Jewish tombs, alike awaiting the assembly of the last judgment. (For a fidl description of this valley, see Robinson, Bibl. Researches, i, 342, 355, 396-402; ii, 249.)